A London Venture Is Falling Down

Canary Wharf goes under, and Olympia & York isn't singing

Once upon a time, in the heyday of junk bonds and booming real estate markets, big money developers sank fortunes into gleaming urban skyscrapers that stood as proud tributes to an age of avarice. Today a dismal economy has left many of these office towers half full and their developers slumping toward insolvency. Chief among them is Olympia & York, which made a grim return engagement in bankruptcy court last week, this time in Britain. The Canadian real estate giant sought protection from creditors of its London Canary Wharf project. No expense had been spared in this spectacular 71-acre building complex...